“I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least call this in,” Tanner said, trying to make his ruse sound legit.
“That’s what I figured,” Redfall said with rain hitting his face. “Go ahead. Do what you need to do, but get it done. We’ll wait here.”
Tanner spun on his heels and walked to the communications vehicle, trying to contain himself. He felt like he’d just hit the lottery, though the grand prize was not a pile of money, but rather a stash of weapons and ammo.
He locked eyes with Fritz and motioned for his second-in-command to follow him. Fritz did without saying a word, both of them opening a different door to the SUV. They climbed in and sat down.
Tanner didn’t want Redfall to catch a glimpse of their conversation, so he waited until after both doors were closed before he spoke.
“Did you catch the address?” Tanner asked his second-in-command from the passenger seat.
Fritz nodded, his hands gripping the steering wheel. A moment later, his face turned sour, showing a pinched brow. “But you have to ask yourself, is this a brilliant stroke of luck or something else? You know what they say in the field about coincidences.”
“Yeah, there aren’t any. But does it really matter if a few civilians tag along?”
Fritz paused, his eyes indicating he was deep in thought. “Probably not. Either way, our main objective is the same—recover the weapons.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking. Assuming HQ approves, we’ll be authorized for whatever might happen at Old Mill Road. And you just never know what will happen during a armed confrontation in the field.”
“Absolutely. Sometimes an op goes sideways, but proper authorization makes collateral damage a non-issue.”
Tanner agreed. “Thank you, Ellsworth Air Force Base.”
“And thank you, DHS, for changing the rules of domestic engagement. And in this case, I’m guessing you’ll want action plan G-47 deployed?”
“Roger that,” Tanner said as a grin grew on his lips. He twipped his hands and fingers to activate the comm unit. A few moments later the screen changed to indicate a secure channel was now open with command in DC.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
About thirty minutes later, Simon adjusted his rear end to find comfort as the SUV raced forward. Somehow he’d been assigned the middle seat in the back of the Nighthawk’s command vehicle. Slayer was nestled in on the right and Wicks to the left, forcing him to balance on his tailbone while keeping his elbows tucked in.
His body rocked with every bump, and more so when the tires slowed as they entered a deeper stand of water and hydroplaned across the rural, two-lane highway. It was a bit cramped and uncomfortable, but thankfully, the ride was almost over.
Wicks tugged at his shirt sleeve, then pointed ahead. “Once we pass those trees, we’ll be about four miles from Jericho.”
“I figured were we getting close,” he said, watching the NSG driver turn a control knob to slow the windshield wipers. The friction squeak across the glass stopped.
Slayer nudged him in the side with an elbow.
Simon swung his eyes and found Slayer’s. The kid gave him a subtle head nod with an exaggerated eye flare, indicating he wanted Simon to look down his right leg.
Simon leaned forward to follow Slayer’s hand as it moved to the bottom of his pants. The kid’s fingers pulled at the material, revealing something stuffed inside his sock. Simon recognized it—the homemade Taser Dre had made earlier.
Just then, the driver swung his head to the right to say something to Tanner in the front passenger seat. Slayer reacted, letting go of his pants and sitting upright with his hands in his lap.
Simon froze, studying the driver for a reaction, but there wasn’t one. After the driver returned his attention to the road ahead, Simon shot Slayer a disapproving look, telling him not to do that again.
Slayer didn’t seem to care, turning his head away and looking out the window like nothing had happened.
Simon checked Wicks on the left. She, too, was busy watching the Pennsylvania countryside flash buy her window, even though there wasn’t much to see. Everything outside was covered in red as the rain continued its endless assault.
The stand of trees Wicks had pointed out a minute earlier zipped by the SUV on the left, giving Simon a clear view of the countryside ahead. A pillar of black smoke was rising in the rain-filled sky, but he couldn’t see flames. Not yet anyway, but that might change as they drove closer.
He knew it had to be either extremely hot or a very recent blaze in order to be burning in this weather. That meant a serious firefight or other calamity had found its way to Jericho. That was assuming, of course, the smoke was originating from Wyatt’s farm.
He waited for Wicks to bring her attention forward and notice the smoke. She did, sitting upright in an instant.
“Oh my God! Wyatt!” she screamed, bringing her hands up to the sides of her head. Tears began to fall. “Faster! Faster! We have to get there!” she told the driver.
Her head turned and Simon captured her gaze with his. “Slow down, Wicks. Take it one step at a time.”
“But . . . but . . . that smoke! Something bad has happened! I can feel it! My brother would never back down. Not from anyone. I can’t lose him, Simon. I just can’t.”
“We don’t know anything yet, so don’t assume the worst. It might not even be Wyatt’s camp. We’re still too far away to know for sure.”
“He’s right,” Slayer said, leaning in front of Simon to grab the crook of her arm near the elbow. “Take a deep breath, Wicks. Everyone just needs to stay calm. We’ll get through this together, like we always do. You know I got your back, right?”
She nodded, but her chest was heaving in short bursts as tears continued down her cheeks.
The tires churned across the slippery pavement while the smoke drew closer, and Simon grew more concerned. Not just for Wyatt and his men, but for Wicks. Her watery eyes were locked on the burn ahead, never straying from the billowing rise.
Simon waited for her blinking to return to normal, which took a good sixty seconds. He knew she was panicking inside, causing her body and her mind to break their normal rhythms.
He wanted to comfort her, but there was little else he could do but offer words of compassion and give her a gentle hug. “It’s going to be okay, Wicks. If your brother is half as good as you say he is, there’s a damn good chance he and his men are in one piece. They certainly had plenty of firepower to use from the shipment, so think positive.”
Tanner turned his head and made eye contact with Simon. Simon wasn’t sure why the NSG commander had a sudden interest in the conversation in the backseat, but it was clear the man was listening.
Simon continued with Wicks. “That’s what we need right now. Positive thoughts.”
She bit her lip and took in a short gulp of air, keeping her eyes ahead as a dirt road approached on the left. It looked like it led in the same direction as the smoke, except now flames could been seen, towering above a farm in the distance.
“It is his place! I knew it. No! No! No!” she yelled, sitting forward on the seat, beating her hand against the back of the driver’s seat. “Faster! Damn it! Faster! We have to help my brother!”
“Take this left,” Tanner announced over the radio link to his men as he worked the GPS display on the dash.
The four SUVs ahead of them made a hard left and so did the command vehicle carrying the Pandora crew. A few seconds later, the trailing support team in the final two trucks followed them down the same path.
A hundred feet after the ninety-degree turn, their vehicle decreased its speed and moved to the right, running its tires along the edge of the uneven road. Simon could see what he thought was the front gate to Jericho about a thousand feet away.
“Why are you slowing down?” Wicks asked the driver in a elevated voice.
Simon grabbed her arm, much like Slayer had done earlier. He pointed to the left, catching her attention as two SUVs roared past them
from behind and ducked in behind the others leading the charge. “We need to pull back until the advance team secures the area.”
“But what if Wyatt’s hurt, or worse? We have to get there, now! He could be dying!”
“We will, but there are procedures to follow. We can’t help your brother if we’re compromised before we arrive.”
“Team one, cover the gate,” Tanner said across the communications network, hesitating for full second. “Two and three, I want flanking positions established in hundred foot increments. Four, you’ve got overwatch. Take the rise on the right and establish cover position. Five and six, hold back and provide secondary support. I want a perimeter in place and the area secure in two minutes. G-47 is now active so let’s run this by the numbers, gentlemen. And Gonzales, let’s try to stay off the ‘X’ this time.”
“Roger that, sir,” a voice answered with a Spanish accent on Tanner’s headset. His voice was loud enough to be overheard by those sitting forward in the back seat.
“What’s G-47?” Wicks asked Simon in a whisper.
He shrugged. “Never heard that term. Probably some type of containment scenario.”
“Should I be worried?”
He didn’t answer, deciding to wait until he had more information.
The convoy deployed in the manner Tanner had directed, each moving with precision and speed. Soon after, the command SUV slowed down to a crawl, about two hundred feet from the gate.
One of the barns inside the compound was smoldering, with only its foundation remaining. The building on the left wasn’t in much better shape. Its porch was leaking smoke into the rain-filled sky and the front of the house looked like it had been run over by a freight train.
His eyes scanned the front yard for signs of wounded. There weren’t any, at least not that he could see from where the SUV was holding position.
Simon peered out the windshield from his forward position between the front seats. The area in front of the gate was clear, except for what appeared to be three bodies on the ground. They looked to be blindfolded with their hands tied behind their backs.
Firing squad, he thought as his chest tightened. He sat back in the seat and turned his attention to Wicks.
She must have noticed as well. “Oh my God! Wyatt!” she screamed, pawing at the door handle in panic.
Simon grabbed her with both arms, not letting her open the door and run to the bodies. “We have to wait for Tanner’s men to secure the area first.”
She sobbed. “No. No. No. This can’t be happening.”
Before Simon could respond, Tanner’s headset squawked with another loud voice.
Simon only heard part of it, but couldn’t make out the words. He held up a finger against his lips, then shot a look at Wicks and Slayer, telling them to remain quiet so he could overhear the rest of the conversation.
He turned an ear, hoping to catch more of the transmission landing on Tanner’s headset. So did Slayer.
“Roger that, Three. Holding position,” the voice said. Simon recognized it as the person with the Spanish accent from before.
Wicks leaned forward next to Simon, her face covered in tears.
Another voice came across the speaker, this one speaking perfect English. “Team Leader, this is Team One. We have movement at ten o’clock. Egress in progress. Subject armed and on foot.”
“Wyatt?” Wicks said, turning her head to look out the window.
The radio chatter continued. “Subject moving east, away from the barn. Looks like he’s headed for the rear of the main house.”
Tanner sat up higher in his seat with a pair of binoculars glued to his face. “Team Four? Report?”
“Target acquired. Permission to go green?”
“Authorized,” Tanner said.
A second later, a powerful gunshot was heard.
“Wait!” Wicks yelled turning wild in Simon’s arms as she tried to break free. Her body was strong and full of adrenaline. “My brother’s in there!”
The driver turned his head to Tanner. “Target down?”
Tanner nodded to the driver, keeping his eyes peeled on the scene with the binoculars.
“All teams, mov—” Tanner started to say into his headset when Simon decided to reach over the seat and grab his headset. He ripped it from the man’s helmet, wanting to keep him from giving what Simon assumed would be an order to move in and finish the job.
Slayer reacted, too, pulling the homemade Taser from his sock and leaning over the back of the seat to use it on Tanner. The device made contact, sending the man into an electrically-induced seizure, flopping around in the seat.
“All teams, stand down! Hold your fire!” Simon yelled into the comm unit, hoping to sound enough like Tanner to convince the NSG men to follow his directives.
The driver turned a moment later, giving Simon a clear shot at his face. Simon dropped the headset and swung hard, tagging the man on the chin with a firm right jab, snapping his head back and to the left.
Wicks pushed the door open and took off running toward the front gate.
“No, Wicks! Wait!” Simon screamed between blows with the driver, hearing the girl call out for her brother.
The driver was strong and Simon wasn’t sure what it was going to take to end the skirmish, but he was determined to win at all costs, then go after Wicks. He took a few shots himself, but kept throwing punches, hoping one might knock the man out. But the space was limited, making it difficult to generate much leverage, leaving his punches shallow and weak.
Slayer hopped out of the SUV and came around to the driver’s door and yanked it open, while Simon ducked a wild left hook.
Simon brought his head back up and saw the driver turn his head in Slayer’s direction, just as the kid delivered a sharp forearm shiver to his face. The driver’s body went limp, with his head hanging forward on his chest.
Slayer dragged the unconscious man out of the vehicle and splashed him into the soggy mud.
Simon scooted across the bench seat and climbed out of the vehicle in a flash. He pulled the driver’s sidearm from its holster and aimed it at the man.
“Where’s Wicks?” he asked Slayer.
Slayer’s head flew around, his eyes checking the area.
Before the kid could answer, a massive pink glow rose up in the sky, due west from their position. Its brilliance was spectacular, catching Simon’s attention as well as Slayer’s. He guessed the distance to be about fifty miles away and centered in the middle of the storm clouds.
Simon forced himself to tear his eyes from the atmospheric event to check on the status of the NSG teams. He was worried they were advancing on Jericho, or coming at him to defend their unit commander. However, they were doing neither. All teams were holding position with their heads turned in the direction of the blinding light show to the west.
“Look!” Slayer said, pointing to the opposite horizon.
Simon turned to see another turbulent flare, turning the clouds in the eastern sky into a giant swirl of color. Then, before he could respond, two more anomalies popped up in the north and south, completing a four-sided array of light.
Streaks of color began to wander out, snaking through the storm clouds from each location. It appeared they were reaching out for each other, working toward a central connection point in the red-filled sky.
Simon couldn’t be sure, but he thought they were standing at ground zero—directly beneath the central convergence point of the lightshow.
“What the hell is going on?” Slayer asked.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The pink glow in the clouds continued to grow brighter at each location, reaching out in zigzagging flickers of light in random directions, almost like an octopus’ tentacles swimming through the water.
As soon as the rays from one location touched streaks from another, the clouds between them filled in with more of the pink glow. Simon figured they must’ve been completing some type of atmospheric circuit between the adjacent points, then ignitin
g.
He tugged at Slayer, pulling him back to the SUV parked behind them, its doors sitting open. He thought the safest place to be right now was inside the vehicle. As soon as he got Slayer inside, he planned to go in search of Wicks.
Then, before he could shove Slayer into the back seat, the hairs on his head, arms and neck began to tingle with static. Somehow they were standing at attention, working against the rainwater covering them.
Slayer’s wet mop did the same, sticking up and out in all directions like his head was dry and someone had just rubbed a balloon across his hair.
An electrical event was happening, that much was clear. And it was powerful enough to overcome the weight and control of the red rain.
Simon looked up for a moment and then an idea popped into his mind. Slayer must have had the same thought, because they both turned to each other and yelled the same two words in unison.
“The emitters!”
Simon suspected the microwave emitters were now pumping massive amounts of energy into the clouds, supercharging the storm’s EM field. The powerful static charge he felt across his skin must have been a byproduct of the energizing process.
As soon as the entire sky had completed its convergence and eventual transformation from red to pink, every loose object in the area began to rise slowly from the ground, including his own feet and those of Slayer. If an item wasn’t secured to the ground, it began to elevate, hovering a dozen inches above the ground.
Cars, equipment, guns, trash cans, ammo casings, broken glass, building debris, and bodies—it didn’t matter. Everything that wasn’t nailed down was now floating in midair about a foot off the ground.
Somehow, even the falling raindrops were affected. They were no longer falling to Earth. Instead, they were floating and their shape had turned perfectly round.
“The emitters—” Simon told Slayer, feeling weightless and a little dizzy. “They’re causing some kind of localized, anti-gravity effect.”
“Yeah, look at the rain! What the hell?”
Redfall: Freedom Fighters (American Prepper Series Book 2) Page 10